Refrigerator and ice maker



June 26, 1962 G. MUFFLY REFRIGERATOR AND ICE MAKER Original Filed July20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 June ze, 1962 G. MUFFLY 3,041,125

REFRIGERATOR AND ICE MAKER Original Filed July 20, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheel'I2 J l Z0 @-7- 0 202 a Q y 202 V200 NVENTOR 4@ @Zelf/1 Milf/f4? UnitedStates 3,041,125 REFRIGERATOR AND ICE MAKER Glenn Mailly, 1541 CrestviewDrive, Springfield, Ohio Original application July 20, 1954, Ser. No.444,422, now Patent No. 2,866,322, dated Dec. 30, 1958. Divided and thisapplication Apr. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 731,300

1 Claim. (Cl. S12- 296) This is a division of my copending applicationSerial No. 444,422, led July 20, 1954, now Patent No. 2,866,- 322,issued December 30, 1958, and the invention relates to a new type ofrefrigerator and to controls of refrigerators having both freezers andice makers.

References are made in this specification directly or indirectly to someof my U.S. patents and pending applications listed below:

2,709,343 issued May 31, 1955, appl. S.N. 74,528 2,765,633 issued Oct.9, 1956, appl. S.N. 178,498 2,894,374 issued July 14, 1959, appl. S.N.464,041 2,942,432 issued June 28, 1960, appl. S.N. 552,530

The present application discloses a number of improvements over theinventions of these earlier patents and applications and is directedmainly to a new type of household refrigerator having a separatelyinsulated, automatically defrosted freezer combined with a nonfreezingfood storage space in which there is an automatic ice-maker, withco-related control of all three. Some of the objects of this inventionare:

To provide improved automatic means for defrosting the evaporator of thefreezer of such a refrigerator with-t out wetting the frozen foodsstored therein.

To provide for dissipating defrost water from the evaporator of the icemaker and defrost water from the freezer evaporator while preventingsuch water from contaminating the water to be frozen in making ice.

To provide a drawer-type freezer with a new form of gasket andmechanical means for freeing the gasket from contacting surfaces towhich it may be frozen.

To provide a safety device which illuminates the freezer drawer whenopened for defrosting of its evaporator.

To provide an improved automatic defrosting system for the freezer of atwo-zone refrigerator.

With this and other objects in view, I now describe the drawings asfollows:

FIG. l is a vertical sectional view of a refrigeratorfreezer cabinetshowing a system installed therein and including the wiring diagram.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of FIG. l taken on the line 2--2thereof.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the gasket which seals the freezer drawer,taken on the line 3 3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlargement of a portion of FIG. l, showing the gasket withdrawer closed,

FIG. 5 shows the same gasket after the drawer has started its openingmovement.

FIG. 6 shows the same gasket as it is contacted and bent by the opposite(rear) wall of the drawer while the drawer is held in its fully openposition.

FIG. 7 shows the roller slide mechanism supporting the drawer 162 andmainly hidden back of it in FIG. l.

FIG. 8 is an end view, partly in section, of the roller slide mechanismof FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a broken view of the same roller slide mechanism, but extendedas when the drawer is fully open.

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a household refrigerator of thetwo-zone type, showing-location of the ice maker with diagram of thewiring system. The type of cabinet shown is that of my copending U.S.application Serial Number 235,920, led July 10, 1951 of whichcontinuation S.N. 705,157 was iled December 26, 1957 3,041,125 PatentedJune 26, 1962 and issued August 30, 1960 as Patent No. 2,950,911, and isassumed to be equipped with similar operating mechanism for the two maindoors. The lower portion of the cabinet, including the freezer drawer,is similar to my patent U.S. 2,709,343, issued May 3l, 1955- and patentU.S. 2,765,633, issued October 9, 1956, but shows an improved form offreezer drawer and its gasket.

The freezer drawer 162 is mounted on a roller slide mechanism usuallycomprising three channel members of which one is Xed to the cabinet, onelixed to the drawer and one floating between on rollers. The usual humpwhich lifts and retains the drawer in closed position is here duplicatedat the full open position. It will be seen that when switch 138 isclosed it also completes the circiut through switch 166 and motor 164,which is preferably back-geared to the shaft 190 carrying the sprocketwheel 192 in such a rnanner as to be reversible. Upon energizing ofmotor 164 the shaft 190 is rotated clockwise, moving the inclined beltor chain 194 to carry the lug 196 against the bracket 198 mounted uponthe rear of the drawer 162 and extending to the far (left) side of thedrawer into the path of the lug 196. This pushes the drawer in theopening direction on the roller slide mechanism of which outer channel200, xed to the outer shell of the cabinet, provides the track for thefloating member 202 which carries rollers supporting the track 203attached to drawer 162. This action first pushes the drawer off of thehumps of 203 which lift the drawer as it closes, letting it drop to theposition 162. Further chain travel pushes the drawer to the nearly fullopen position 162, where the drawer is slightly elevated above itsclosed position by virtue of the inclined track 200 on which it isguided and supported. At this point 162, the second lug 204 strikes thestop 206, which is welded to the far (left) side of the outer shell ofthe cabinet and thereby causes `the motor 164 to stall, the motor beingdesigned to stand such a lockedrotor condition for the required lengthof time. The motor remains stalled, holding the drawer open at position162", during the few minutes required to defrost the freezer evaporator.Defrost water thus falls into the heavy metal pan which forms the mainbase of the cabinet instead of falling onto the frozen foods in thedrawer. determined length the switch 138 reopens, stopping the heatingof coil 156 and deenergizing the motor 164, whereupon cooling ofevaporator 144 resumes and the drawer recio-ses under the influence ofgravity due to the inclination of the track upon which it is carried byrollers. This inclination is sufficient to cause the inertia of drawerreclosure to lift the drawer 4from the position 162 vto the fully-closedposition 162 in which it is shown by solid lines.

When the cam 142 makes one revolution per twentyfour hours the switch138 closes once a day, preferably at two or three oclock in the morning,when it will not interfere with normal operations in the kitchen, but asa safety precaution in the event that someone cornes into the kitchen inthe dark and might fall over the open drawer, I have provided the switch160, which is located on the far side of the drawer in hidden position,to be closed when the drawer is part way open and remain closed untilthe drawer is nearly closed, thus causing the lamp 158 to be lightedwhenever the drawer is opened, either automatically or by hand.

Since it is not normally necessary to defrost the freezer evaporator atsuch short intervals as one day, the wiring is so arranged that thedefrosting occurs only when the control 124 is in position to allow thefreezer to operate. Thus the defrosting will be more frequent when thefreezer is being cooled more frequently, thereby increasing theprobability of a defrost. If during the night Upon completion of thedefrost period of pre-.

the freezer control is on one-eighth of the time the freezer evaporatorwill be defrosted about once in eight days. On other nights the drawerwill not be mechanically openend nor the defrost heater energized. Sinceit should not normally be required to defrost the freezer oftener thanonce a month, this provision is ample. At the end of each freezerdefrost the bulb 172 will be warmer than usual, which means that thecooling of the freezer will always continue after the defrost until theair rising from the drawer through the flue 182 is` again down to thecut-out temperature. In case a seven-day or a thirty-day shaft is usedto drive the cam 142 the wiring can be changed to cause a defrost eachtime the switch 138 is closed.

For normal access the drawer 162 may be pulled open by hand to theposition 162'" shown by dotted lines, at which full-open position it isretained by a hump in the track similar to that which keeps the drawerin its closed position. This opening of the drawer does not causedefrosting, but it does light the lamp 158 to aid in seeing the drawercontents. A slight push moves the open drawer off of the hump to theposition 162, from which it is reclosed by gravity. The chain 194 andits lugs do not move when the drawer is opened by hand.

An optional feature, which may be added if desired, is

the switch 166, by means of which the user may energize the motor 164 atany time, causing the drawer to be opened by power and held open untilthe switch is snapped back to the solid line position to allow thedrawer to reclose under the inuence of gravity, all without energizingthe heater coil 156 and regardless of what controls may be on or off.This is a refinement to accompany the power opening and closing of thetwo upper doors of the cabinet, as described in copending applicationsof mine listed above The switch 166 is preferably located beside thelamp S or in the face of the cabinet at a higher level, out of reach ofsmall children, and is arranged to snap from one position to the other.It will not interfere with defrosting nor with any other functions whichare time or temperature controlled, except that the freezer drawer cannot be cooled while open. To provide against carelessness of the user inforgetting to reclose the drawer, the switch 166 may be of the timingvariety, such as those used on electric toasters, so that the drawerwill be closed automatically at the end of a pre-selected time limit.The same provision can be made for the mechanical reclosing of the twomain upper doors in combination with the mechanical self-opening featuredisclosed in my earlier patent applications above listed.

'I'he mounting of the drawer 162 on rollers with an inclined telescopingtrack and the humps, which slightly lift it at the fully closed andfully open positions, is shown in FIGURES 7, 8 and 9, and will beunderstood by reference to the similar telescoping tracks, usually ofchannel form, which are commonly used on letter le drawers. In the caseof letter files the tracks are horizontal and normally have the humps atthe closed position only. The difference here is that I propose to mountthese tracks on 1a slight incline to lift the drawer as it is opened,and to locate the humps at both ends of the travel, so that the draweris slightly lifted and retained in position by the humps in both itsclosed and its fully open positions. The nearly-open position 162 ofFIG. 1 is just prior to the lifting `of the drawer which occurs as it ismoved to the fully open position 162' in which it is retained.

Use is made of gravity and of the power of motor 164 in breaking thedrawer free from any ice or frost which has formed on the top edge ofthe drawer and on the gasket. The new type of gasket shown at 210 isprovided to facilitate this breaking free as the drawer is opened eitherby hand or under power. The thin flexible ribs 212 of the `gasket arebent to the positions shown kby the closing of thedrawer, hence are socurved as to tear away readily from any frost bond between them and thedrawer. The initial movement of the drawer from the FIG. 4 position inthe opening direction will flex these ribs and then the dropping of thedrawer off of the hump to the position 162' (FIG. 5) will further aid intearing the gasket free. Since the cabinet width is commonly about twicethe inside front-to-back depth of the freezer drawer this takes care ofmost of the gasket. A similar effect is obtained where the gasket is incontact with the near and far ends of the drawer as seen in FIG. l byforming the gasket with zig-zag ribs at any angle of say 45, as seen inFIG. 3. This, in conjunction with the inclined tops of the end walls ofthe drawer, makes it relatively easy to break the drawer free from anyfreezing shut that may occur. The use of a plurality of ribs also aidsin this by preventing kitchen air from reaching the coldest of the ribs.

The freezer drawer is preferably made with its side walls and bottomthicker or better insulated than other walls of the cabinet, there beingno insulation in the cabinet side walls at the level of the drawer. Thisinsures that the frozen foods in the drawer will not be started to thawduring any normal periods during which the drawer is open. The bottom ofthe main food space, directly above the freezer evaporator, need not lbeheavily insulated because leakage of heat from the main food space intothe freezer only aids in cooling the lower portion of the food space. Itis only necessary to see that foods in the bottom of the main food spacedo not freeze.

Switch 248 is a service provision for emergency defrosting. It ismanually closed and self-opening by means of a clock or thermal release.When closed it starts a defrost period of the freezer evaporator,including the opening of drawer 162 if it is not already open. At theend of the timed defrost period the switch 248 snaps back to its normalposition. This swi-tch is seldom used and may be omitted, as service mencan produce an artificial defrost period by other means when required.

FIGURE 3 shows the freezer drawer gasket 210 as seen from the bottom ofFIG. l with the drawer 162 removed. The only part of the cabinet shownin section is the right-hand side of the outer shell, which iscontinuous to the base pan y of FIG. l. Looking upward into therecess-174, which houses the freezer evaporator, we see the gasket 210and its flexible ribs 212, portions of which are made in zig-zag form212' where extending from `front to back. The reason for this is toretain in these front-to-back portions of the gasket as much of theilexibility of the crosswise ribs 212 as is possible. Due to the height,thinness and flexibility of these ribs and the fact that they bendsidewise as the drawer is closed, they are easily torn free from the topof the drawer as the drawer is opened, rst dropping and 4then movingforward. At the right, rear corner (front in FIG. 3) the gasket is cutat 252 and the ends secured by means of screws or other fasteners 254.This allows a portion of the gasket to be released and bent back forremoval of the tubes and wires associated with the evaporator 144, thebulb :172, and the heater coil 156, which connections are located in anotch covered by the gasket. The zig-zag portion 212 of the gasket islocated directly above the side walls of the freezer drawer, leaving aplain portion of the gasket 210 4exposed above the side spaces betweenthe drawer and the side walls of the outer shell of the cabinet, thegasket also serving as a thermal breaker between the outer shell and thepan-shaped lining of the recess 174.

It will be noted that in FIG. l I have shown the motorcompressor unit 86located at the top rear of the cabinet instead of at the rear of thefreezer drawer as in patents U.S. 2,709,343 and U.S. 2,765,633. The mainreason for this is to increase the front-to-back inside dimension of thedrawer and thus provide more storage space for frozen foods. I furtherpropose to make the outside front-toback dimension of the drawer greaterthan the corresponding dimension of the upper portion ofthe cabinet andto indent the rear outer wall of the drawer to provide room for themotor v164, which generates very little heat as compared with the unit86, thus providing still more freezer capacity in a given height. lIt isalso proposed that instead of making the freezer Walls thicker they beinsulated with a better insulating material, even though this is moreexpensive than the insulation used in the balance of the cabinet.

I claim:

In a refrigerator cabinet, a drawer having insulated side and bottomwalls, means supporting said drawer and guiding drawer movementdownwardly at the start of its opening movement, and a gasket forsealing the space between the insulated vertical walls of the drawer andthe cabinet structure above the drawer, said gasket being provided withrelatively thin and flexible ribs which are flexed sidewise by theclosing of the drawer and which when frozen fast to a surface contactedthereby will be torn `free by a peeling action as the drawer starts itsopening movement in the downward and outward directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS TaylorDec. 4, Koser Aug. 30, Shanklin Aug. 18, Feldkircher Nov. 20, EckartJune 11, Hart Mar. 28, Bundy Oct. 8, Cochran May 28, Rosendahl May 2,Passmore Aug. 18, Holderle Aug. 2, Gould May 6, Cooper July 8, KalischerMay 15, Wilson Mar. 23, Shreve Sept. 12, Nussbaum Nov. 211, ChristieNov. 1-1, Mutlly May 31, Yonkers June 26, Falck Sept. 18,

